Conventional faucets mix hot water and cold water coming into the faucet from separate source lines. To do this, a mixing valve is provided in the faucet, and generally a handle is used to control the flow of hot and cold water, which mix with one another to form create an output water of a desired temperature. Many conventional faucets are operated by a single lift-handle, which is usually mounted on top of a faucet. A conventional lift-handle is mounted to a faucet at its back end with a handle extending upward and forward from the mounting point. The lift-handle is thus configured such that lifting the handle causes the flow of hot and/or cold water to be opened, and pivoting the handle from left to right about its mounting point controls the temperature of the water dispensed.
The handle of a lift-handle faucet generally is a long arm structure that allows the user to actuate the lift-handle. Due to the conventional structure and operation of such mixing valves, the arm tends to extend upwardly from the rear of the faucet and make a substantial, albeit acute, angle with the faucet outlet.
Furthermore, in conventional lift-handle faucets, the lift-handle sits high above the faucet body itself because a valve stem of the mixing valve extends above the top of the faucet body such that the mixing handle, when rotated upward about its mounting point where it joins the faucet body, rotated about the axis of rotation of the valve stem and causes the mixing valve to open to allow the flow of water. Thus, because the axis of rotation of the valve stem must align with the axis of rotation of the lift-handle, the lift-handle must sit at a predetermined height above the top of the faucet body. Furthermore, because conventional lift-handles are configured to rotate about an axis of rotation of a valve stem, lift handles are substantially linearly displaced with respect to the faucet body when they are lifted, requiring large mounting structures and skirt structures to mask the substantial linear movement and cover the large gaps that are necessitated by said movement.